Though it’s no guarantee of outcome, Najee Harris believes the Pittsburgh Steelers at least know who they are in 2023. And that’s at least a start. In speaking to reporters last week, Harris said the Steelers have a clearer vision of the type of offense they want to be this season, picking up on where they left off in 2022.
“I feel like we’ve found our identity,” he said via the team’s YouTube channel. “Early on, we didn’t know what we were. There was a lot of stuff going on, especially at the quarterback position. Just bringing new guys in. Really, we didn’t have our identity. We were trying to look for it.”
Pittsburgh’s offense struggled mightily the first half of 2022, changing quarterbacks, turning the ball over, and having no consistent running game. Over their first eight games, they failed to score more than 23 points in any game and were held under 20 points in five of them, including a pair of blowout losses to Buffalo and Philadelphia.
The Steelers began to correct things following their Week 9 bye. While the offense lacked explosive plays, they scored more than 23 points in three games and averaged roughly 21 points per game from Week Ten on. The ground game got going, the third down offense went from one of the league’s worst to first across the NFL, and Harris’ numbers picked up too. Dogged by a toe injury, he got healthy and averaged 4.1 YPC following the bye compared to just 3.3 prior to the bye.
Pittsburgh affirmed its identity this offseason and Harris laid out the vision they have for the fall.
“That’s playing Steeler football. That’s what we do,” he said. “We run the ball. We have a good defense. We’ve got good players on the outside so we try to get them the ball in space. We try to get the deep balls downfield. We gotta control the line.”
To be fair, that all-encompassing philosophy is something virtually all offenses hope to be. But Harris’ point is well taken. The Steelers want to get back to their roots of being physical, running the ball, and controlling the clock. Harris will be a focal point of that mission, teaming up with Jaylen Warren as a one-two punch in the backfield. Harris will primarily work on first and second down while Warren should continue as the third-down back, though there will be mixing and matching throughout the season.
